Voice of Chaos
by LadyPiratte
Summary: It goes without saying: without a leader, those that follow are left in the dark. Tortall has lost two leaders at the most inconvenient time. Now those that follow have to find their own path. A new leader will rise and a new dream will begin.
1. Chapter 1

**Voices of Chaos  
****A Tortallan Story**

**Chapter One: Of Thieves and Spymasters**

_It goes without saying: without a leader, those that follow are left in the dark._

She could her days of limited freedom on her right hand and it made her groan in utter annoyance. Five days and her "master" and his son would arrive and his son would demand his usual mistress, which was herself, and because it was her part to play, she would have to go along with the whole charade and smile while doing it. She'd been lucky that the Baron of Stil and his son had planned their little vacation and she'd been twice lucky that another Tortallan man had come to travel with them. It had left her with three weeks of peace and quiet and being herself. She didn't have to worry about reports or sneaking next to closed doors. All she had to worry about was when she wanted her bath.

Cari of the Brighteyes was a spy for Tortall, in a time when spying was particularly tricky and useful. The Scanran War had only just ended two years back and any noble who had a border on the country had to be watched, thus her station with the Baron of Stil. She had hated it at first, but after a while and after she'd been showered with beautiful gifts, Cari found that she didn't really mind being a spy in Stil. It was lonely, especially after three years, but if Cari kept her act up, she could almost fool herself that she was happy. Besides, she'd been only sixteen when she first came and knew the Barony of Stil better than she knew Corus. Of course it went without saying that Corus was quite a bit bigger than Stil.

With a sigh mixed with restlessness and contentment, two very opposing feelings, Cari flopped onto her back in the middle of the large, feather filled bed and spread her arms wide. It may have been a hard life, living a lie, but Cari was good at it and she loved knowing all the little secrets. She didn't really even mind the Baron's son, Oliver. In fact, she'd grown to really like the man. He was handsome, strong, stubborn despite being a jerk and a fool. Well, at least there were a few qualities she didn't mind in him; his father on the other hand…

A knock at her door made her look up, annoyed but she drew a deep breath and climbed out of the big bed. She shoved her feet into her slippers and threw on her robe over her thin shift. Shaking out her dark, curly hair, she threw open the doors then stood back, surprised by the person standing before her.

"Raza? What are you doing here? The Baron isn't due back for another week." Cari waved the man in.

Raza was a short man, or at least shorter than Cari who was a tall woman. He was a few years older than herself with several scars along his left cheek and eye, leaving one of his dark eyes half closed with scar tissue. His blonde hair was always a mess but his clothes never were, always pressed and neat. It went without saying that if his clothes were as dirty as they were now, something wasn't quite right.

"He isn't back." He remarked sharply, coming into her room, then shutting and locking the doors behind him. "The room is secure?"

Cari looked about, tweaking her bright, sea-green eyes a bit so that her talent, her Sight shifted to look beyond the ordinary. She double checked all the listening spells very carefully, then nodded back at the Tortallan. "Yes, I keep the signs up to date."

"Good." Raza nodded and walked further into the room. He walked first along the wall that had her dressing screen and where her cabinets were located. At every bit of furniture along his way, he stopped and examined the craftsmanship. Cari often thought that the man had been a carpenter before he'd been recruited. He walked until his path was stopped by the mussed up bed opposite herself.

Cari turned to face him, hands on her hips. "I didn't lie."

"I know. I wouldn't have been able to tell. No Sight." He tapped his good eye but didn't smile at all. Raza didn't always have a good sense of humor, despite how likeable Cari found him.

"So, what brings you away from the Baron? Away from our assignment?" Cari wasted little time with games.

"You won't like it." Raza remarked, fingering the embroidered bedspread. His eyes never left her's however.

"Spill it, Raza." Cari shifted her weight from foot to foot. Why did Raza always find it amusing to tease people with good information and she knew he had good information by the way he was dragging it out. Raza didn't usually play games with Cari; she'd dumped him on his behind dozens of times already for it.

Instead of speaking, Raza reached into his belt purse and produced a crumbled up piece of paper. He slid it over to her across the bed where she snatched it up and tore open the seal. It wasn't even written in code, which made her frown before she even began to read the words. When she did get to reading the words, her breath caught in her throat.

"Have you read this?" She asked without looking up, rereading the letter again.

"Yes." Raza replied quietly. For a moment he didn't say anything else. "Cari?"

"Yes?" She replied absently, still staring at the letters.

"What does this mean? What happens to us? Both of them-"

"Shut up, Raza." Cari snapped.

Raza didn't seem to hear the venom in her voice. "Both of them are gone. What do we do?"

Cari didn't hear her spy-mate. All she could focus on was the words written plainly in Common right before her eyes. There was no code, no hiding the message, just the message plain as day. It was sloppy work, but if the message could be trusted, it didn't matter anymore.

With a shake of her head in disbelief, she stalked over to her fireplace and poked at the embers of the fire. After a moment, a small fire rose up and she tossed the letter into the flames. Cari stared at the fire, not really seeing.

"Cari! Cari," Raza was at her elbow, squeezing it. "What in the name of everything do we do? Cari!"

Cari, finally feeling the pain of Raza's fingernails digging into her pale skin, turned on him, knocking him backwards with the palms of both her hands. She hadn't meant to react that way to Raza, but it had been instinct that took her over mind just then. Slowly, she came to her senses. "What?"

"What do we do?" Raza repeated slowly.

"We have to leave." Cari replied just as slowly. Then she began to pick up her pace and started for her clothing cabinet. She threw out her favorite brown tunic, tan leggings and her belt. Without more to Raza, she disappeared behind the screen, changing and stepping out from the screen as she laced up her belt around her waist. "We're running. We have to get to Corus, or Pirate's Swoop and confirm it. We can't stay here."

Cari brushed past Raza to her ointment table and swept a hand along it, scattering, breaking and spilling it all onto the floor. "Trash the place."

"What? Why?" Raza caught her wrists as she began to head for the table next to her bed. "What good does it do to trash your room?"

"Because someone broke in. We'll trash the Baron's and Oliver's room as well. We're fleeing the scene of a robbery and with any luck they'll think we've been kidnapped." Cari explained quickly. She wasn't sure her plan would work, in fact, she was pretty sure it wouldn't work at all, but trashing the people she'd had to pretend to be slave to was enticing and she wanted payback.

"Fine. You're the boss." Raza shrugged. He had hated them even more than she had.

"That's right, Raza. I'm the boss." Cari remarked with a mischievous little smile and pulled down the curtains.

* * *

Cari strode down through the courtyard and the Baron's "palace" with a belt purse full of her favorite stones to sell on their way back to Corus and Raza trailing a few steps behind her with a small pack of food and his own full belt purse. Cari and Raza had both been thieves in the Court of the Rogue before their respectable jobs as spies, so leaving perfectly good jewels that could fund their entire way back wasn't an option.

They walked casually enough, but even Cari wasn't fool enough to not to hear the shouts in the house as the nosy maids found the trashed and somewhat lacking rooms. She didn't look back at Raza but she could tell he was just as aware.

When they reached the guards at the gates, she smiled at them in her usual, flirtatious way, giving them a little nod of her head as she passed. Unfortunately, the guards were not deaf and heard the commotion. They looked at the house, then back at Cari and Raza who were just a few paces on the other side of the gate and unfortunately, they weren't stupid either.

"Hey! Stop right there, mistress!" One of them called.

Cari snapped her head around to look at them. She saw several other guards join the three gate-guards and she didn't like the odds. They would have to run for it and run Cari and Raza did.

Raza may have been shorter than Cari but he was quick enough to catch up with her long-legged strides. "Meeting place?"

Cari thought for a moment as they turned down a few alleys in the nearby village. She cursed Stil for being so very small and then cursed the people for liking their protection spells a little too much; the brightness of it all was hurting her eyes.

"South Road." She replied between breaths. "East side of the lane. Whistle for a signal."

Raza nodded in understanding. He reached out and took her hand in a solid clasp before turning in the opposite direction of herself.

Fast on her feet where several guards, and the more practiced guards at that. Cari was running as fast as she could, turning and cutting through gardens and leaping small fences where she felt she had a good enough distance. She pushed off building walls to gain sharper turns and a short burst of speed. Her legs ached after a while and her chest hurt from the exertion but she couldn't stop. Stil wasn't kind to thieves, she'd seen quite a few killed for it.

She turned down one alley only to be met with a wall three times her height and solid. The workers had been good about the plastering, no cracks or lumps or footholds. Cari was cornered and exhausted for her efforts.

She faced the two guards that had followed her down and backed up against the wall until she felt the smoothness behind her back. Cari put on her bright smile and fluttered her dark lashes over her stunning eyes. It worked every time on Oliver and most of the time on the Baron, why should guards be any different?

"That's not going to work, wench." The tallest growled. "Hand over what you stole and come quietly."

"Oh, you see, that isn't the way to treat a lady." Cari replied sweetly, still looking about her for a way to escape. It was looking rather bleak. So much for escaping the lie she'd spun for three years.

"Yer not a lady." He smiled toothily at her.

Cari's smile dropped, a little ashamed. She couldn't protest what he was saying. For the past few years she'd lived as a glorified streetwalker. She couldn't even claim to be a good thief anymore; she was getting caught.

"I wouldn't speak t' a pretty lass like that."

Cari craned her neck upward at the voice's owner. On the top of the wall kneeled a lanky looking man with unkempt brown hair, dancing blue eyes and a crooked smile. He was just the sort not to be trusted for any help. Cari rolled her eyes and hung her head. Now she had guards on one side and a heckler on the other. Her day had certainly turned south in so many ways.

"Who be ya?" The shorter guard pointed his knife at the stranger.

"A friend." The lanky man gave a little salute to the guards, then tossed down a rope. Cari stared at it dumbly, not sure what it meant. With an irritated sigh, he shook it. "Grab it, lass."

Cari raised her eyebrow curiously, but did as she was told. She really didn't have any other options at the moment having been stupid enough to not have stolen knives before leaving the Baron's house.

"Ta, boys." The man smiled again, then dropped off the other side of the wall where Cari couldn't see him.

Without warning, Cari found herself flying upwards, her elbow rubbing against the wall in a burn that made her bite her lip in pain. She reached the top and hauled herself up onto the ledge the man had been sitting on before and looked down. It was quite a long ways down.

"Jump." The man ordered.

Cari shook her head with a laugh. "That's funny, mister."

"Do it a'fore they go an' get them some arrows." The man pressed.

Cari looked behind her. Sure enough the guards were calling for men with bows and arrows and she was sitting right and pretty as a target. "Are you going to catch me, mister?"

"Yeah," was all he said and all Cari needed before she pushed off from the wall. The man was good on his word and caught her in his arms. They both crashed into the ground and Cari winced at a twisted ankle, which she admitted was better than a broken one.

"Let's go 'fore they find a way 'round." The man dragged himself up and then hauled her to her feet and dragged her away from the wall. He headed toward the eastern road and she stopped in her tracks, crying out in pain at her ankle.

"Wait, no. I have to go to the South Road. I have a friend there." Cari pulled her wrist away from the man.

"Fine. Let's go, lass." He waved for her to lead the way.

Cari took off at a limping run, forcing the tears out of her eyes and cradling her burned arm against her chest. The day had been scheduled to go differently. She was supposed to have her bath, then sit in the library and read to go out into the yard and paint. She wasn't supposed to be limping, burned and suddenly an outlaw on top of being a spy that no one knew about anymore.

* * *

It was near nightfall when they reached the South Road, but at least they had reached it and they were not being pursued any longer. Cari, her ankle and her legs were very thankful for that. She was surprised her rescuer was still walking at her side, even slowing his pace for her. Didn't he have other people to pull down off of ledges?

Cari wasn't about to ask such when she reached the spot she'd asked Raza to wait for her. She whistled, drawing a curious look for her rescuer, and then she waited. For a moment she was afraid Raza had been captured, but then a rustling nearby calmed her worries. It didn't calm her friend's worries who reached for his belt knife, though she imagined he had several others hidden on himself.

"Over here." A hoarse demand came and Cari dropped her head for a moment in irritation before she did as she was told, once again.

Raza appeared from the bush, eyed the man next to her but didn't say anything. He simply turned and started into the trees. They followed him for a few moments, enough that Cari was beginning to grow suspicious of where he was taking them. Suddenly, Raza stopped in a small clearing where a small fire was built up and a girl was sitting with a pot over the fire. Cari cast a look over at Raza.

"You brought a friend." The Tortallan spy shrugged.

"He followed. I didn't bring him. Who is she?" Cari asked as she walked over toward the fire. The girl looked pleasant enough but Scanran through and through with her blonde hair, blue eyes and pale skin.

"That's Toren." Raza answered from over her shoulder. He walked around her to sit beside the blonde young woman and look over the make-shift dinner. "Who's he?"

"Gardner, or Gard rather." The lanky man smiled his crooked smile. "Pulled yer lassy off a tall lil' wall. She's in one piece."

"Broken, you mean." Cari retorted, inspected her burn as she got closer to the light. "Why's she here? What did he get you into, mistress?"

"He rescued me from guards that thought I'd be a little too friendly." Toren replied, her head dipped downward and her hand twisting a little rag.

"Well, ain't we heroes." Gard laughed a little. He came over and grabbed Cari's burned arm and looked at against her squeaks. "I've got something for it in my purse."

"Good, it's your fault." Cari pouted and sat down. She pulled of her boot and rested her injured ankle against the cold dirt. In the morning it would be tender but as long as she babied it now, it would be fine.

Gard laughed again and took out a small jar and gently rubbed a bit of jelly along the length of the burn. Cari hissed and tried to bring her arm back to herself, but Gard held tight. He was stronger than he looked. "Be good." He scolded.

"I have some rags to wrap that." Toren perked up and reached behind her to a little basket that Cari hadn't seen till just then.

"You had time to go back to her house and get things?" Cari cast an amused and annoyed look at Raza. "I was running till I could run no more, corned by ugly men, hauled over a wall, and dragged all the way here and you have dainty little time to get things?"

"Hush." Gard scolded again. "Just 'cause ya had a rough time o' it don' mean he couldn't have it easy."

"I like him, Cari." Raza jerked a thump in the direction of the other man. "I like him a lot."

Childishly, she stuck her tongue out at her spy-mate. A few seconds later, when she had her arm safely tucked against her, she sobered up and stared into the fire.

"Oh, don't do that again, Cari. Don't go staring in the fire like that." Raza must have recognized the look in her eyes for the same look in her room.

"They can't stay with us, Raza." Cari quietly told him. They didn't need some peasant girl and whatever Gard was, hanging around and slowing them down. "We have to get to Corus, or Pirate's Swoop and we have to get there now."

"What's in Pirate's Swoop? I've never heard of the place." Toren remarked conversationally. She was sweet, Cari decided, a little too innocent for her own good, but sweet.

"What's in Corus?" Gard's tone was serious, a deadly sort of serious that made them all look over at him, then at Cari. Raza shifted so that he had his spy-mate's back if Gard decided to do anything rash.

Cari drew a breath, ready to construct a lie, when Raza laid a hand on her shoulder. "Tell them the truth. What harm can it be? Two people. Pretty soon the whole world is going to know."

Cari looked over at Raza, then back at the fire. She fiddled with the bandage tie on her arm a bit. "Raza…"

"Spit it out, lass." Gard cut off her complaint by grabbing her hand as it fiddled.

Cari shook off his hand roughly, glaring at him in the dying light. When he shrugged, she turned her sea-green eyes into the fire once more. "The… Um… Geor… Well, that is to say…"

"The spymasters of Tortall are dead." Raza finished for her. "And we were spies."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Onward we must go…  
**'_To be or not to be?' isn't that always the question we must ask ourselves?_

The silence was deafening and with just four people it was a feat that should have stories written about it. Cari didn't move, she just continued her unseeing stare into the fire. Raza was still in his defensive place off to her side and he watched the other man with tense dark eyes. Toren stirred the soup without a word, probably too afraid of the three people she was sitting with to do anything else. Gard just flicked his eyes between the two spies. At least they could take heart that they wouldn't draw the guards by way of noise.

Toren sat back from the fire and the pot a moment later. "Dinner is almost ready." She didn't look at them, just went about her business setting the soup into bowls.

"You were spies?" Gard stayed on the subject at hand. His tone suggested that he didn't quite believe it. "You two?"

"Yes." Raza snipped, not liking the tone in the least.

"Not very good if you were found out an' chased about." Gard sat himself back, lounging with a crooked smile.

Cari reached over and retrieved a stick for herself and flicked warm embers at the long man who jumped back and glared at her. "We weren't being chased for being spies, you dolt."

Gard raised one eyebrow and glanced over at Toren who was giggling quietly to herself. Cari didn't like the two bonding over laughing at them. She poked at the fire more while Gard adjusted his clothing. "Why were you bein' chased then?"

"We trashed the rooms of the Baron before we left." She supplied. It was a tad embarrassing to say aloud, but the two sitting with them didn't understand what they had faced as spies. Besides who were they but peasants who had followed them?

"Trashed the rooms? What for?" Toren looked at her with her big, innocent blue eyes.

"Probably didn't suit lil' lass's liking," Gard kept his crooked smile. He shifted and fished a bowl out from one of his belt purses and handed it over to Toren who filled it up and finally passed out the soup.

Cari shot Gard another dark look and shoved away from the fire with a huff. She wasn't going to give the man any more fuel for him to laugh at her. Raza could speak for them from now on, she was through.

"Watch it." Raza warned as he took his own bowl and sipped at his soup slowly. "Brighteyes is tougher than you know."

Gard went back to his lounging position after taking his own full bowl. "Tough? Aye, I saw that earlier." He winked playfully in the dying light but only Toren saw and she giggled a little.

Cari let them talk, still staring off into the fire. She had to keep up the pretense that she knew what she was doing by going to Corus and then on to Pirate's Swoop. In reality, Cari had no idea why they should go to those places. George and Myles were dead; the spymasters were dead and the killer had yet to be caught by her knowledge. She wasn't the highest ranking spy in the network, but she certainly wasn't low and she had no idea who would replace them. Certainly the King and Queen were working on a solution, the kingdom could not be blind for long. Cari knew enough to know that enemies would take advantage of that without a second thought to the matter.

It still left her alone and without assignment. Raza looked to her for guidance and she didn't know what to tell him. She didn't know whether to go back and report to whoever was standing in for a spymaster, maybe the Provost, or to run back to the Court of the Rogue and see what could be found there. She knew that life at least and it was better than the others that could await her. She had no intention of being sent to another rich noble.

It would disappoint her mother horribly, who had thought that at least spy work was more respectable than being a criminal, if she went back to thieving. Cari didn't like to disappoint her mother, with her health so poor, but she didn't like many people. She had only agreed to do spy work after learning about George Cooper and him being the Rogue for a time. She trusted crooked people, she knew their nature. Respectable people were unpredictable and could turn in an instant.

She hadn't been aware of Raza until he poked her shoulder gently with his spoon. Cari turned her bright eyes at him, nearly filled with tears. "Always so serious, Brighteyes. Eat up."

Cari looked down at her bowl of soup and warily picked it up and shoveled a bit into her mouth. She didn't even taste it. "Someone has to be serious."

"Not you, ya know." Raza countered her quietly. He was watching her carefully but she kept her gaze away.

Cari nodded to show that she had heard him but she just spooned another mouthful into her mouth. He didn't understand. His decision was probably easy to make or he probably already made it. She had to decide to be respectful or to be a rogue again. To live her life on her own terms and disappoint her mother or to use her skills for Tortall and make her mother proud.

Raza had continued to watch her and after a moment, set his spoon down in his bowl. He gently put an arm around her and pulled her into him in a one armed hug. After a moment, she leaned her head on his shoulder but refused to let anything that had happened earlier in the day make her cry. She was only a girl and still a young one at that.

"I'm scared, Raza," she whispered for only him. "I don't know what to do."

"That's alright," he replied gruffly. "We'll head to Corus, like you said, boss." He squeezed her shoulders and looked over her head at Gard who was watching them and then at Toren who was setting out her sleeping gear.

Cari nodded against him. Raza, as tough, strict and generally uncolorful as he could be, was her friend and had been before they were spy-mates. She could rely on him to always be there to lift her spirits and keep her steady.

* * *

Morning came to soon in Cari's opinion and far too cool for her to be in good spirits. She had been forced to share a sleeping space with the quiet Toren in order to keep warm, which was awkward. Cari didn't know the girl and she just seemed too friendly for her to trust; a respectable person.

She was awake before the others, however, with the sun just coming over the land and slowly chasing away the fog that had settled on the roads. It would be a cool day if she could judge by the air and the breeze that came from the north. Fall was settling in sooner than she would have liked but Stil was close to Scanra and Corus was not. Perhaps it would be warmer in the capital than in the country, she hoped so anyway.

Cari walked a bit into the woods to stand close enough to see the road but not been seen from the passage way. She crossed her arms, careful about her burned forearm and shifted to stand on her good ankle. Her decision still weighed on her shoulders like metal but Raza's support had made it bearable for the moment.

"Early riser too, lass?" Gard's soft voice came from behind a few paces.

Cari turned her head to look back at him, then back to the roads. She didn't need to see him to know that he was coming up beside her, the corners of her eyes could do that much for her. "Just like the sunrise."

"Hmm. Didn' think ya were a sunrise type o' lass." He remarked pleasant enough.

Cari shrugged indifferently. "Sometimes, Gard, a girl likes to look at pretty things."

"Oh, I don' doubt that." Gard smiled that crooked smile of him and managed to nudge her a bit, which messed with her balance on her good foot. He reached out and steadied her with a little chuckle. She shoved him off.

Cari shot Gard a dark look and thought about showing him what a well trained spy and a good thief could do to a person, but refrained. She wasn't in top shape, no thanks to Gard, and in no position to start a fight.

"Why are ya headin' to Corus, little Brighteyes?" Gard kept her gaze with his own blue eyes.

Cari looked away, staring back at the road, this time trying to judge if it would be safe enough to travel on it. The guards probably wouldn't waste time searching for them until the Baron came home and she had a few more days before he arrived. "Do you think the road is safe to travel on?"

Gard sighed, sounding irritated with her, which was exactly how she felt about his presence. "Corus, Brighteyes, let's focus."

"It's the capital. Why else would we head there?" She clenched her jaw. Cari didn't like saying more than she had to with strangers.

"I don' think that's the reason." Gard walked in front of her, blocking her view of the road and making her look at him. "What's the real reason, lass?" After a moment in which she said nothing, he crossed his long arms across his chest. "Raza would make ya tell me."

He had a point there, Raza would make her tell him. Raza didn't care who knew what so long as it didn't get them thrown into some cellar with bars. Cari was of a different mindset. She told people only what they needed to know when they needed to know. "I'm not Raza."

Gard didn't budge, he was a patient man. "Lass… Why'd ya thrash those rooms of yer Baron?"

Cari sighed and rolled her head a bit to show her irritation. "I needed some funds."

Gard nodded, obviously pleased to be getting someplace with his interrogation. "Funds. Ya mean ya stole from the Baron? That's why ya were runnin'? Not very subtle."

"I didn't care for subtle at that moment, Gard." Cari snapped. She didn't like being judged for her methods. He hadn't been there when she found out. He didn't have to face the loss of their secret spymaster and finding a way out.

"That much is obvious, lass. You a thief on top o' bein' a spy?" Gard smirked, finding it funny.

"Before Cooper, I was." Cari admitted casually. No need to hide that fact anymore. She had already admitted as much, besides, she wanted him to realize that she was actually able to accomplish something before she met him.

Gard's smirk dropped and he reached out to grab her arms roughly and quicker than she would have thought. Cari didn't have time to jump back out of reach. "Cooper? George Cooper? Man who'd been Rogue afore?"

Cari tried to pull out of his grasp, but he only tightened his hands around her arms. "Aye, let go, Gardner."

"That's why yer headin' back to Corus. Yer goin' back to the Court of the Rogue. Yer not going to find out what really happened-who killed a man that so many had tried afore an' failed. Yer runnin'." Gard's voice was low and dangerous, making the hair on the back of her neck stand on edge.

"Running is perfectly respectable." Cari retorted defensively. "And I _am _going to Corus to find out what happened."

"But if it's too big, ya runnin' back to yer ol' lifestyle, that it? I'll tell ya, lass, the Rogue ain't like he used t' be. You're better off bein' a coward and runnin'." Gard's tone didn't change, it only got darker.

"Who says I'm running? I'm going to Pirate's Swoop too." Cari had to work to keep her voice down. He was insulting her and she didn't like it one bit. With a clenched jaw, she pushed away from him.

"Before or after ya turn back t' thieving? Tell me, lass, why you're runnin' from respectability? Lass like you should be married to some good man an' makin' an honest livin.'" He remarked, his voice still low, making her look ridiculous for getting all worked up.

"Married? With what? Two kids and sitting at home with a pile of laundry?" Cari looked at him with disgust. "Maybe you should follow your own advice, Master Gardner."

"At least I'm not runnin' away from what I'm scared of," he countered easily.

"No? Then what are you doing here?" Cari spread her arms wide, her tone challenging.

Gard grabbed her arms, pinning them to her sides. "I ain't runnin' away from somethin' I'm good at and I ain't afraid to be respectable, when it calls for it. Ya should be goin' back to Corus to report in like a good lil' spy and gettin' a new assignment. Hey, ya should even be the new spymaster, might be better than what you're doin' now. Of course, spymasters aren't cowards."

"Who are you to tell me what to do? Lay off." Cari tried to pull away again. This time, Gard let her go and with the force she was tugging away with, found herself on her bottom in the dewy grass. She looked up at him with narrowed eyes. "I haven't decided what I'll do, but I'll tell you what… Once I decide, you'll be the first person to know." She kicked out and connected with his shin.

"You little -" He began to curse and came toward her.

"Hey!" Raza's voice cut through the morning fog like a knife. He jogged up to join them and stood over Cari's fallen form protectively. "What's going on, boss?"

"Gard woke up on the wrong side of the fern this morning." Cari retorted as she extended a hand for Raza to help her up with. Once on her feet, she felt better about glaring at the lanky man. "Being too nosy."

"No harm done, lad." Gard raised his palm up in surrender. "Just a lil' argument between me an' the missus."

"Missus?" Cari repeated, wrinkling her nose.

"Cari." Raza's clipped tone cut her off from any other remark. "Did he hurt you?"

Cari kept her jaw tight and her bright eyes on Gard. Something didn't sit right with the man. "No."

"Good. We have to get moving. Toren's coming with us since I can't let her go back there to those men." Raza slowly turned away from Gard to look at her. He wasn't asking her permission, not that he needed to, but it still bothered her that he didn't ask. "Is he coming with us?"

"Ask him. I don't care." Cari retorted, trying to regain her calm and collected exterior. It was harder to regain her composure than she thought it would be.

"I need to reach Corus as well, for an entirely different reason, I can tell ya." Gard acted as if nothing had occurred in the previous moments.

"Really?" Cari cocked her head and earned a pinch in the arm from Raza for her attitude.

"My da's there and if what both of you say is true, then he and my brother need to know about it." Gard shrugged casually.

"Who are your da and brother that they should know?" Cari pressed. She didn't like the fact that their choice to tell these two had been a mistake. At least Toren seemed to be non-threatening to the well being of Tortall. Gard would be a torn in its side, or at least her side.

"In due course, lass." He actually had the nerve to wink at her as if it would put her in good spirits.

Cari, injured or not, lounged for Gard. Raza was quicker than she'd counted on and grabbed her around her waist to keep her away from him. Gard laughed as he stepped out of reach but it only made Cari that much more angry. "Stand still. Raza, let me go."

"What's going on?" Toren, sleepy eyed and with her blonde hair in disarray, stumbled through the trees to join them. "Why are we here and not at camp?"

Raza had turned to look at Toren when she'd spoken and the instant that happened, he dropped his hold on Cari. She stumbled to the ground, out of balanced where she kicked her spy-mate in the boot for his efforts.

"Those two were having a little spat." Raza offered as an explanation. Leave it to the man to develop a sense of humour in the wake of a pretty girl. "Back to camp with everyone."

Cari watched as the two started back toward their little camp then glared up at Gard, once again on the ground at his feet. She didn't like the position at all. Cari started to get up when she noticed a hand drop before her face. "No," she snapped automatically.

"Don' be a fool, lass." Gard wasn't teasing, or joking, or even threatening, he just was and that made her wrinkle her forward. "Take the hand, Brighteyes."

With a heavy sigh, she grasped his hand and he practically pulled her to her feet without any assistance from herself. She took the time to dust off the front of herself before looking up at him. Once they reached Corus, she was going to need a healer for her head.

Cari turned on her heel to walk back and once she was sure that Gard was following, she spun around and knocked him to the ground with a well placed shove. "Payback, for knocking me to the ground."

"Nasty lil' lassy, ya are." Gard remarked good naturedly, still staring up from the ground.

Biting her lip to keep from saying more, Cari stalked back to camp, trying to ignore that chuckles that came from behind her. Adding to her dismal start, she found Raza and Toren sitting cozily together as they worked on the morning meal. Gard paraded around her when she stopped and clapped Raza on the shoulder like a friend before taking a seat and the offered warm drink. Cari found herself on the outskirts of their little company, standing alone, looking awkward with her arms crossed and her foot shuffling.

Gard looked up at her and smiled. He shook his head, then filled up a mug and held it beside him. "Awe, c'mon here lil' Brighteyes. Who can't forgive you?" He patted the ground beside him.

* * *

Just as the sun was beginning to set, the four, oddly grouped people arrived into Corus. They had been lucky and had bartered at ride with a fast moving caravan and their wagons. It had cost them each a pretty coin, Raza paying for Toren, but it had been worth their trouble. They had arrived a full half day ahead of the time it would have taken them to walk without stops to eat.

Cari thanked the caravan leaders as they turned off toward a different entrance into the city, leaving the four to stand there and stare into the capital. For Cari, it had been nearly three years since they had been home. The city looked as foreign to her as if she had never set foot in the place and yet, the moment she stepped into the streets, she could remember their names, where they went and which were the best pickings for pick pocketing.

Cari turned toward her traveling companions. "My mama has a home not far from here. All of you are welcome to stay until you can pay for your own accommodations."

"All?" Gard asked, a little bewildered.

"All." Cari even surprised herself. She was a charitable person and Gard was no exception to her charity. He would just have to sleep on the floor. "Unless you would-"

"Make way for the Baron of Stil." A loud voice cut her off and made her blood run cold.

Gard and Toren exchanged confused glances and Cari simply stood there in utter bewilderment. The Baron was supposed to be in Stil, where he belonged, or he was supposed to be in his vacation house. Raza would have mentioned if his vacation house was in Corus.

"Boss," Raza hissed as he pulled on her arm and dragged her through a few alleys. He didn't stop, even when she started to cry out from his hold on her burns.

"How," Toren began as she caught her breath. "How is he here?"

"I'd like to know that too." Raza remarked with a shake of his head. "We didn't leave any traces behind to show him we were heading to Corus. A weird circumstance?"

"I don't think so," Cari replied as she cradled her now very sore arm. She was going to make Raza pay for the healing costs and already it would scar. From now on, she would have to wear and arm gauntlet to cover it or risk being identified.

"Know anyone who'd know? 'Nother spy, mayhap?" Gard crossed his arms, not looking the least bit winded.

Cari shook her head, but Raza answered for her. "No. Not unless we've got a mole and if that's the case, we've got a bigger problem than before."

Cari knew Raza was right. If there was one mole, there were others and more spies and their lives were in danger because of the break down of hierarchy in the spy networks. Spies, although loyal for those they work for, were opportunistic creatures when they didn't have anyone to answer to, which was why most had been thieves, mercenaries, or other low-life people. It would be chaos.

"Let's head to Mama's house. It's not far from here. It's the brightest one." She pointed down the lane. The house was the one with the most protection on the doors and windows. What luck it was that Raza had brought them so close, or was it skill? Raza had only ever been to her home once or twice before they were in Stil.

"Brightest one?" Toren looked at her oddly.

Raza laid a hand on her shoulder. "Boss, we can't see like you do. They're all the same in our eyes."

"Fine, just follow." Cari rolled her eyes. There were times when she just didn't understand why they couldn't see things like she could. Was it really a trait that was given to a person? Cari had always assumed it could be learned and grew frustrated with people who didn't learn.

Cari led the way, then hesitated when she reached the door. Her mother would be furious with her. They hadn't parted under the best of terms. With the three people at her back, watching her, Cari closed her eyes tight and rapped her knuckles on the door. A few moments and a few heavy steps later and a woman much shorter and heavier built that Cari opened the door.

Cari's mother was a light haired woman with dark eyes and shared none of Cari's looks save in the mouth. Mother and daughter had the same mouth. Her mother had always complained that Cari looked too much like her father, who had been a passing knight she'd met in a tavern for only a night, but Cari didn't mind. Her mother had her brother for similar looks.

For a moment they just stared at each other, dark eyes with unnatural bright eyes, until a smile broke across the woman's features and she pulled Cari down in a smothering embrace. "Brighteyes! I heard th' news an' was all sorts of worry for ya. Folk were talkin' what they'd do to people like my lassy if they found ya."

"Well, I'm here, mama. Mama… Mama, I can't breath." Cari struggled against her smaller mother. For all that the woman was in poor health, she still could keep her daughter in her arms.

"Right." She held Cari at arm's length. It was then that she noticed Cari's companions around her. She recognized Raza instantly and drew him into a warm embrace before she eyed the other two. "In, in." She ushered them into the small home with a wave of her rag.

Cari's mother smiled warmly at Toren as she passed, no doubt approving of her dress and her feminine manners. Cari had never been one for being overly girly. Then she narrowed her eyes at Gard. "I know ya, yer-"

"Shh, Mother." Gard held a finger to his lips. "Not time yet."

"Well," she sighed. "I'm Maureen Baker for our new folks. Cari, yer bein' rude, not introducin' yer mama an' all."

Cari cringed. "Mama, meet Raza once again, then Toren and that's Gard, who has been a thorn in my side." She waved to each of her companions in turn with her burned arm.

"Brighteyes!" Maureen cried out and grabbed Cari's arm, nearly dropping the girl to her knees in the shock of the pain. "What happened?"

"Nothin', Mama, leave be. I'm goin' to a healer in the mornin'." Cari replied with a sharp look at Gard, finding herself slipping into her lower common speech. She would have to fight the urge to do it as long as she was in Corus.

"Mama's got to worry, child. Now, go wash up, all of ya and I'll get ya somethin' to eat." Her mother glanced over at Gard darkly. Maureen shooed Raza and Toren upstairs to wash, which Cari didn't find a good idea, then she turned to the two remaining.

First she went over to Gard, waving her rag at him like she often did Cari's brother when he was being scolded. "Ya watch yerself, prince-boy." Cari had never heard such a threatening tone come from her mother before and it scared her. "Hurtin' my Brighteyes will find yerself in a ditch somewhere, whoever yer connections. Rogue loved my Brighteyes and will protect her."

"Rogue loves me, too, Mother." Gard answered her with his own tone, the very same tone he had used on her earlier in the day.

"Both of ya's, you, stop. I just want some good food, to sleep and then Gard and I are going to have a chat again tomorrow morning and I'll see a healer, got it?" Cari's eyes flicked between her mother and the man who'd found himself on the wrong side of her family. "I'm tired, mama, please?"

Maureen was silent for a moment before she went and patted her daughter's cheek. "Anything for my Brighteyes."

* * *

Author's Notes: Well on its way and I have no idea what path it is going to take. I'm just letting the characters parade all over me and hopefully something will come out of it. I have a general idea how each character will end up-some you'll guess, others, I'm not even sure of yet. Hopefully something will come of it. 


End file.
